Pretty Cute for a Redhead
by 4gotten4good
Summary: Ami Disamru is alone in Konoha. She has been alone for almost all of her life, and the parts where she wasn't make her doubt whether being lonely is such a bad thing. When a stoic redhead enters the picture can she change? Can he? GaaraxOC
1. Genin

Pretty Cute for a Red-Head(Part 1: Genin)

"He likes me Ino!" Sakura shouted. "Why would he like someone with such a huge forehead?" Ino retorted. "Grr… Ino pig!" "Billboard brow!" Back and forth their pointless argument continued. "I don't know why you always argue about dumb ol' Sasuke. I'm better than he is! I'm going to be the next Hokage! You'll see!" Naruto added to the already overly voluminous classroom. Sasuke then added his two cents, "You're all a bunch of obnoxious idiots…" I hoped they would all shut up. Endless bickering and snarky remarks didn't make for a pleasant afternoon. 'Only a few more hours or less and then I'll only have to deal with two or three of these people at a time…' I thought to myself. Fighting the urge to use my powers was becoming increasingly difficult. Snapping, dark circles formed around all of their mouths. They mumbled and grumbled to themselves, unable to form coherent words anymore.

"Well, it's oddly quiet in here," Iruka noted as he walked into the classroom. As he looked around the class he spotted what was keeping the normally boisterous class to a mere murmur. "Ami, thank you for your help, but I can handle it from here," Iruka told me. Reluctantly I removed the rings, allowing them to voice their opinions once again. "What a bitch…" Ino said, as Sakura nodded in agreement. 'Great, these two are at each other's throats all day but when it comes to hating me they get along just fine. Glad to know I'm the binding force that keeps them together.' I accompanied my sarcastic thoughts with an eye roll. Iruka glared up at them to silence them again and then began, "Alright, now after yesterday all of you in this room have proved yourself worthy of being a genin. As such, you have all received your head bands, and now I am about to tell you your teams. Remember, these are the people you will go out on missions with, people you will have to work together with possibly at the stake of your life. So please, no grief about who you are or aren't with."

Glancing around I hoped I wouldn't get stuck Ino, Sakura and Sasuke all on one team. The arguing would be endless and we ultimately would accomplish nothing. Naruto, though loud and annoying at times, had always been a good friend to me. Thinking about it, I realized what a horrible combination Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke would make. 'Hopefully whoever decides the teams would realize this too. I mean, Naruto would constantly argue with Sasuke. Sakura would be too obsessed with him to contribute to the team. Sasuke himself will probably be smug, thinking he is better than the both of them and never work with them.'

As I was spacing out Iruka was naming off the different teams. I was unsure who all had been called by now, but my name hadn't been called yet. "Team 7: Disamaru Ami, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto." Sakura was ecstatic and Naruto was devastated. I let out a small sigh at my luck. Following them outside, we waited for our new sensai to arrive.

Four hours later a man with gravity defying silver hair showed up. "Hello, I am Hatake Kakashi and I am your new sensai. Now, firstly you should introduce yourselves, your likes, dislikes, and goals. I will go first. I already told you my name, I like reading, especially the Icha Icha series, I dislike traitors and my goals and dreams are none of your business," he completed his description with a hard to see smile; a mask covered a majority of his face. We went around the circle, taking our turns respectively.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I like ramen and training to be the best ninja ever, I dislike people who think I'm nothing and who treat me badly just because of who I am. My goal and dream is to become the Hokage and I'm going to make sure it comes true!"

"I am Sakura Haruno. I like Sasuke, and I dislike Naruto. I don't really want to talk about my goals and dreams…" She said this as the blush on her face deepened.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like training and I dislike fan girls. My goal is to defeat someone. Not only just to defeat them, but to kill them. I will achieve this goal. There is no room for failure."

"I am Ami Disamaru. I like people who don't judge me for what I am, which is very few people. I dislike perverts," I threw a look at Kakashi who had said he liked those awful porn books, "As for goals, I don't really have any. I don't plan for the future, I live for the now."

"Alright, that is all for now. Tomorrow I want you all to be at the training grounds at 5 AM. You all still have one last test before you become fully fledged genin. Oh, and I suggest you don't eat. See you tomorrow, bright and early." And with that he was gone.

"Well, that was thrilling," I said as I walked away. My shoulder length black hair flowed behind my in the gentle breeze. My new headband hung loosely around my neck. The rest of my outfit consisted of a red, long sleeve shirt, black pants, fishnet gloves and black boots. ~It's always sarcasm with you. And let me guess, you are either going to sit in a tree or on your roof for the rest of the day.~ 'Your guess would be correct Anei. It's almost as if you can tell what I'm thinking.' ~More sarcasm. How original.~ Ignoring her I jumped into a tree to lose myself in thought. Anei was the demon sealed inside me fourteen years ago, on my first birthday. She was the four-tailed demon, the shadow wolf. With her I received the power to control all shadows and darkness. But it was because of her that I was alone. My eyes drifted into a dark forest green to reflect my thoughtfulness. For some reason, when the demon had been sealed in me, my eyes changed. Now, instead of my natural emerald green they changed to reflect my mood. I was ripped from my thoughts as I heard the familiar whistle of a kunai flying towards me. Jumping down I snatched it out of the air to figure out where it had come from. Landing in a fighting position, I was ready for anything.


	2. A Different Kind of Disturbance

**SammPaglia- Thanks for reviewing. I know the first part was pretty short. I was going to add more but it was 3:30 AM and I was running out of energy and I really wanted to get the first part out. I'm going to try to make the parts longer so it's not a 30 second read every time. Thanks again!**

Pretty Cute for a Red-Head(Part 2: A Different Kind of Disturbance)

Looking around I found Sasuke standing there, his arm reaching out to me. 'Figures. Instead of trying to get my attention a normal way he chucks a kunai at me.' ~I think that justifies his death, if you ask me.~ 'Luckily enough for Sasuke, I didn't ask you.'

"Needs work," I mumbled as I handed it back to him. I turned to find another, more secluded spot when Sasuke did the most idiotic thing. He grabbed my arm to stop me. "If you want to keep that arm, I suggest you let go of me," my voice coming out more like a growl than a human voice. He quickly realized his mistake and I calmed down a little.

"Sorry, I was just trying to get you to wait so I could talk to you," he said sincerely. "About what?" I questioned. "About me, and about you, and about our team," he answered. "Go on then. Get what you want to say out," urging him to get this over with, I turned to face him with crossed arms.

"Alright, I want you to know that I…" he glanced at me quickly, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink, "I like you. There, I said it. I also know that Naruto, and most of the other boys we were in class with, also have crushes on you. I was hoping maybe you might feel the same about me," the tint on his cheeks deepening with every word, "But I also want to say, no matter what you or I or Naruto or Sakura feel about one another, I don't want it to interfere with our team and our missions," he finished on a more confident note than he had started.

Sighing, I began to explain to him my feelings, or lack thereof. "Sasuke, I appreciate your feelings, and I am glad you told me this directly. I have to tell you though that they are unreturned. I do not feel that way about you, or about any other boy. I do not even think I could if I wished to. I am glad you agree that this shouldn't affect our teamwork any. Now, if you'll excuse me…" As I turned to walk away another of my teammates shouted out to us.

"Ami! Sasuke! I told you they'd be out here Sakura," Naruto told her excitedly. "Yeah, both of them…" Sakura grumbled to herself. "Do you guys want to go get some ramen with us?" Naruto gave us puppy dog eyes, as if they affected us. ~You should go. You need to get used to spending time with them anyway.~ "Fine," I agreed to both of them. "Hn," was Sasuke's response, but he followed along anyway.

"So, what were you and Ami talking about?" Sakura asked Sasuke as we sat waiting for our ramen to get done. "Just talking…" he trailed off, avoiding eye contact. She looked at me to confirm the answer and I just nodded. At that moment our ramen was ready and we all dug in. After finishing my bowl I got up to leave when I felt something grab my butt. My eyes a blood red color I turned to find a surprising answer to the question of who dared to touch me.

A little girl, about five or six years old, stared up at me with tear-filled sapphire blue eyes. The color of my eyes shifted from red to purple as my confusion grew. "Can you help me?" The little girl asked me. "Who are you? What's wrong?" I asked to try to find out more about this child.

"My name is Haruko Iwate and I can't find my mom…"she said as she began to cry again. "Can you please help me find her? I saw your headband so I figured you were a kunouchi and could help and please help me, please!" she pleaded for help. I could see how scared she was.

"I will help you, just tell me what your mother looks like," I told her, hoping to soothe her crying a bit. She reminded me a lot of myself at her age. Unfortunately for me, no one came to help me. I would not let this child share the same fate I had. "She has long blonde hair, and blue eyes like mine. She's a little taller than you, and she's wearing a purple dress with white flowers on it and matching sandals. Is that enough?" she asked hopefully. "Yes, that's plenty. Here, hop on my back. I'll carry you around to places you can't go to get a better view of the city," I told her. She climbed up and I took off for the roofs.

After searching for a couple hours, I hadn't found any sign of her. It was starting to get dark out and I was beginning to worry that this girl had been abandoned on purpose. Soon, I ran back into my teammates.

"Hey guys, could you lend me a hand?" I asked, hoping they would make finding this girl's mother easier. "Sure Ami, what do you need?" Naruto replied eagerly. "Well, this little girl can't find her mother and she asked me to help her. We've been looking for a few hours now and I'm beginning to wonder if she's here to find," I informed them. "Of course we'll help, we can't just leave this little girl all by herself out here," Sakura piped up. Sasuke and Naruto nodded their agreement. After Haruko told them about her mother we all split up, trying to cover the most ground possible.

After all the main roads had been combed, I decided to check down alleys. The possibility that something had happened to her had to be considered. As I walked down the dark alley, a few drunks stumbled out of a bar. "Hey fellas, look at this hottie over here! What's up with the kid? You one of those teen moms? Ha! At least that means you know what you're doing! You know what I'm saying boys?" The men all erupted into laughter at the awful jokes he threw out. "Come here honey, we won't bite. Hard." More laughter followed and the men worked their way towards us. "Jump off, turn around, and close your eyes and put your hands over your ears," I told her. She was too young to need to see or hear what was about to happen to these pathetic pieces of filth.

I ran straight at them, landing a hard kick to the chest to the one who had cracked the jokes. Spinning around, I pulled a kunai out, slitting the throat of the man on the right and jabbing it through the heart of the man on the left. Going to finish off the last one I found he had started to move towards Haruko. Dashing to him, I wrapped my arms around his head, snapping his neck before he even reached her. Pulling Haruko back onto my back, I jumped away, hoping I wouldn't have to fight anymore assholes tonight.

"Haruko!" A woman yelled out as we approached her. "Mommy!" Haruko shouted as she ran into the woman's arms. "I was worried sick about you. I was looking all over town for you!" she cried as she hugged her daughter to her chest. "I was looking for you too. This nice girl helped me. She's so cool! When I grow up I want to be a kunouchi just like her!" the girl told her mom excitedly. "Really? Well, thanks are in order then. Thank you…" she trailed off as fear sprouted up in her eyes. My eyes had turned from a deep blue to a yellow as the girl's words made me feel happy. As my eyes changed the woman realized who and what I was. "You're welcome," I spat out before disappearing in a swirl of shadows, a single tear running down my cheek.

'That was foolish of me. How could I possibly think someone would view me in a good light because of something I did? I should know by now people only view me for what I am.' ~People are ignorant. People are horrible. You should be rid of them.~ 'Stop it Anei, I will not go around killing people to satiate your thirst for blood. That is why people fear me. They believe I will kill just because you are inside of me. I refuse to prove them right.' ~Fine. But you better hurry up and get into a mission where you can kill your opponents at least.~ A barely audible sigh escaped my lips. The rest of the night I spent gazing at the moon, waiting until it was time to meet my team at the training grounds.

At 9 AM Kakashi finally arrived in the place he had told us to be at by 5 AM. I was detecting a pattern. "Sensai! You are so late," Sakura yelled. "Sorry, but I got lost down the path of life," he gave the lame excuse that he must've known we wouldn't believe.

"Anyway, it's time to explain the test you guys must pass. I have three bells here. All you have to do is get a bell before noon. Know that to achieve this goal you with need to come at me with everything. You need to have the intent to kill when attacking. Now when I say start, we'll begin," Kakashi explained to us.

As he finished saying this, Naruto charged in, wielding a kunai. Before any of us had even realized what had happened, Kakashi had Naruto's arm twisted behind him, the kunai pointed at the base of his neck. "Why are you in such a hurry? I haven't even said 'start' yet," Kakashi lazily said as he released him. "How are we supposed to compare to you? You're a jounin!" Sakura complained. "You shouldn't put someone on such a high pedestal just because of their rank," I said with venom dripping off my words. Kakashi gave me an interested look but didn't say anything. "Well, now that you're all ready, let's begin. Start!" he shouted and all of us but Naruto into the trees and bushes.

Watching in hiding we witnessed Naruto's fatal error. Charging head in out of anger at Kakashi pulling out a book and reading while fighting him, Naruto got caught with Kakashi behind, a tiger hand sign formed around his book. 'Would he really kill him?' I didn't know. "You shouldn't let your opponent get behind you," said Kakashi, "Now, Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu! Thousand Years of Death!" 'Wow… Of all the things, that was unexpected.'

I watched as Naruto got caught in a trap while once again charging in head on. After that we all got separated out. I finally got Kakashi alone. "I already took care of the others. You are the only one left. Well, how will you approach this?" he asked out of curiosity. I narrowed my eyes, reading the title of the book he was reading. "Ugh, that crap you're reading is disgusting. You're just a pervert, aren't you? I can't stand it!" I had had enough of thinking about the things he was reading and enjoying. I ran straight at him, and then veered to the right, throwing a handful of shuriken. He easily dodged, but landed in my trap. I formed a sinking pit of darkness out of his shadow. To my disappointment, I had only caught a shadow clone. Searching for the real Kakashi, a shining light caught my eye. He had figured out my weakness. Focusing his chakra, he made himself glow brightly, dispelling all the shadows around him. All that was left was for him to dodge around while I futilely tried to snatch away a bell.

The timer ran out and none of us had bells. "None of you get it do you? Do any of you know what the point of the test was?" Kakashi was now much more serious than he had been. "It was to get a bell, right?" Sakura cautiously asked. "It was to show you that teamwork is crucial. Naruto, you charged in all by yourself. Sakura, you ignored Naruto who was right in front of you. Ami, you relied on your powers without having a backup plan. And Sasuke, you were the worst of all. You went on by yourself, ditching the others. You thought they were too weak, that they would only get in your way."

Something snapped in Sasuke. He charged forward but ended up in a situation similar to the one Naruto was first in at the beginning of the test. "Sakura, kill Naruto or I'll kill Sasuke," Dumbstruck at Kakashi's words, she stared at him wide-eyed. "These are the kinds of things you will have to face now that you are full blown shinobi. Teamwork is vital. The lack of it can be fatal. If you aren't ready to put your own lives on the line for your team and your village, then leave, now," he demanded.

After a few moments he released Sasuke and went a tied Naruto to a thick taijutsu training pole. "Now, I have an errand to run while you guys eat your lunch. We will continue when I return. But be warned, if you feed Naruto, you will all fail," and with that he left.

Once I was sure Kakashi was gone, I looked over at Sasuke who gave me a quick nod. We started to give some of our noodles to Naruto. "What are you two doing? We'll all fail!" Sakura shouted. "Relax, didn't you hear anything Kakashi said?" I scolded. "Naruto's going to need all his strength if we're going to get those bells." Sasuke added. At his words she quieted down.

Just seconds passed before Kakashi appeared in a flurry. "So you fed Naruto did you?" The look and tone he used had us fearing for our futures. "In that case, you all…" he trailed off. 'Oh just tell us already. The tension is worse than the actual test we had.' "Pass!" he exclaimed happily. All of us finally exhaled the breath we had all been holding in. If he kept training us like this, one of us would die of a heart attack before any enemy ninjas could get to us.

I began to head home after Kakashi told us what the plans were for tomorrows training. I heard footsteps approaching and turned to see Naruto running after me. "Hey Ami, I just uh… I was just wondering if maybe… Would it be alright if I walked you home?" 'Oh jeez, here we go.' ~You know if they were dead they couldn't bother you like this.~ 'Don't you start.' "Naruto, that's very sweet of you, but I can manage getting there all on my own. I know why you asked, and I don't want you getting your hopes about things like that. I know you are a good friend, my only friend, but I just don't think of you in that way. I'm sorry," I explained, trying to let him down gently. He looked a bit down trod, but he accepted what you said.

During my walk home I noticed someone was following me. Detecting the familiar chakra I called them out on it. "Sasuke, why are you following me? Creepy stalker is a step down from teammate. I hope you realize that," I told him. "Sorry, I've just been trying to work up my courage," he said as he jumped down by me. 'Courage for what?' I wondered. Suddenly he was much closer than he had been. 'No, do not do this.' I thought frantically as his lips met mine. Pushing him away, the urge to kill him flowed through me. "Never. Do. That. Again." I roared as disappeared in a swirl of shadows. Teleporting away as fast as I could before the bloodlust and anger flowing through me took over. 'The chunin exams can't get here fast enough. If this idiot keeps this up, he's going to end up dead.'~I'd gladly welcome that…~ She trailed off into a devilish laugh filled with the hope that before too much time had passed I would spill the blood of one of my teammates.


	3. The Sand Siblings

**SammPaglia- I'm glad you liked it. Don't worry, Gaara is in this one. I had to build up a bit of the character and plot development. Hope you like this one as much you liked the last one!**

**Also, to anyone else who reads and likes this, let me know! Constructive criticism is nice and it's always nice to know that people enjoy my stuff. Review or feel free to message me! One more thing, I realize this is a bit out of order here, but I'm trying to get to the Gaara without all the filler. Sorry if that bothers anyone.**

Pretty Cute for a Red-Head(Part 3: The Sand Siblings)

"He told us to be here four hours ago…" Sakura groaned. "Haven't you learned by now? He's never on time. And all those excuses he gives us are complete bull," I said. "Where does he go? You could find out couldn't you Ami?" Naruto questioned, the curiosity bubbling over. "Could I? Yes. Would I? No. I'm not going to invade sensai's privacy," I told him.

At that moment, Kakashi moseyed toward us. We were all waiting for him to tell us our next mission with little enthusiasm. All day we had done menial chores for citizens. Expecting more of what we had been doing Kakashi's news shocked us all.

"I have just signed you guys up for the chunin exams. Since you have been doing all sorts of boring missions I will give you the rest of the day off, but I expect you all be ready bright and early tomorrow morning for training. There's only a month until the exams and I expect each and every one of you to do great in them," he said with a hidden smile. The mask that hid his face had intrigued me ever sense the first day we met. It hid his face so well I was considering getting one myself.

While I zoned out Kakashi left and the others began to as well. I tagged along with Naruto. Since we had been put on a team together our friendship had began to mend. We had once been best friends, bonding because no one else would even look at us. But when 'he' had taken me from the streets, when 'he' moved me into his house, everything changed. My small, fragile relationships that it took so long to form came crumbling down around me… 'He' had ruined my life, and even now that he was dead he continued to haunt me. Snapping away from the painful thoughts I noticed what appeared to be a box disguised as a rock following us.

"Really? A square rock? Is that the best you guys can do?" Naruto shouted at whomever or whatever was following us. "You're good, boss. You saw right through my disguise," a voice came from inside the box. Suddenly it erupted into three poofs of smoke. My bright green eyes showing my curiosity I walked over to see what all the commotion was about. Naruto and I just stared at three small children coughing and crouching on the ground. After they stopped they realized we were waiting for some sort of explanation.

"I'm Moegi and I'm the sassiest kunouchi around!" the girl shouted. "I like math! Call me Udon!" the boy with glasses followed suit. "And I'm the number one ninja in the village, Konohamaru!" the boy in the middle, obviously the leader, finished. All three of them said in unison, "All together we're the Konohamaru Ninja Squad!" Posing, they were quite proud of their little introduction.

"Alright Konohamaru, I figured it was you. Now what do you all want?" Naruto asked in slight annoyance. He wanted to train, most likely. "What? You can't say you don't remember. You promised you'd play ninja with us today!" Moegi yelled. 'They must really idolize Naruto what with the goggles and all the shouting they do…' ~Yeah, I wonder if they have ramen eating contests in their spare time to see who's the most like him?~

"A ninja playing ninja? Isn't that a little sad?" Sakura came around the corner looking dejected. 'Oi, I had hoped all this time as a team would help her realize her crush on Sasuke was pointless.' "Hey boss, I get it. This girl is you're girlfriend, and she's jealous that you've been hanging out with the girl with black hair instead of her!" Konohamaru said not realizing the minefield he'd just stepped into. I jumped up onto a nearby fence to enjoy the show that was sure to ensue.

Sakura punch Naruto who, instead of correcting Konohamaru, tried to play it up that he was some kind of ladies man. Udon and Moegi went to check on him as Konohamaru shouted at Sakura, "You witch! You're a witch, and an ugly one!" Off went another mine and Sakura turned her rage toward the one who had said it all in the first place. She started to walk away, when as he and Naruto rubbed the lumps on their head Konohamaru murmured the final straw, "I don't even think she's human boss. I mean, look at how wide her forehead is." With an Exorcist like quality, Sakura slowly turned around and then dashed back towards them.

Moving as fast as he could away from the enraged kunouchi Konohamaru ran straight into another shinobi. He was unfamiliar, so I waited to see how this accident would develop. "Well well well, what do we have here? A bunch of punk kids it looks like," the boy said. He was completely in a black outfit, two points on the top from something under his hood, purple makeup on his face and some contraption on his back. A metal plate engraved with a shape like an hourglass showed that he was a sand shinobi. The girl behind him had blonde hair in four spiky pigtails, a giant fan strapped to her back, and around her neck the same metal plate and symbol showed her to be a sand kunouchi.

The boy picked up Konohamaru by the collar of his shirt. "Stop, that hurts!" the child yelled. "Put him down Kankuro. You know you'll pay for this foolishness later," she said with little effort to actually try to stop him. "Oh I'm just having a little fun. You know how much I hate weak, pathetic little punks," he joked with her. "Put him down right now! I swear, you better put him down or I'll make you!" Naruto shouted as he ran to Konohamaru's rescue. I glimpsed a small movement in Kankuro's fingers and Naruto fell flat. "What happened?" Naruto was baffled.

'Chakra strings, so that thing on his back is a puppet. Suna is famous for their puppeteers…' I mused. "Kankuro, you better put him down. You know he wouldn't approve," the girl warned with more concern this time. "Well he isn't here, now is he? Time to teach this brat some manners," he retorted as he drew his fist back. That was enough for me. I jumped down to help defend a defenseless kid from a jerk on a power trip.

A wall of shadow sprang between Konohamaru and Kankuro's fist. I realized a little late that this was a moot effort. Sasuke had thrown a stone at Kankuro's wrist, stopping his punch and making him drop Konohamaru. The puppeteer was in total shock of both events. The wall dissipated and Kankuro decided to turn his anger towards the stone thrower. "You little punk! I'm going to teach you some manners!" he yelled as he pulled his puppet off his back. "You aren't seriously going to use the Crow for this?" The girl seemed appalled. "Bring it on, you're way out of your league," Sasuke snidely remarked.

"Sasuke, get down out of that tree," I told him, sensing a new foreign chakra. Not just any chakra either, it was a huge, but well concealed chakra. Someone dangerous was close. "Why? Afraid I'll fall out and break a leg? I'm not Naruto," Sasuke joked. A cold voice came from the other side of the tree, "Kankuro, you are a disgrace to our village." This stopped everyone in their tracks. All of them were either in shock or stunned in fear. 'Blood? Why do I smell blood?' ~That gourd…~ Anei whispered, as if her words could be heard outside my head.

"I told you Sasuke, out of the tree, that's an order as team captain," I commanded. This time without a word he jumped down next to the rest of us. Kankuro tried to explain the situation, saying it was our entire fault. The redhead glared at him. "Shut up Kankuro, or I'll kill you." The full power behind those words caught me a bit off guard. They were obviously teammates, yet his aqua teal eyes showed the fact that the one he spoke to meant nothing to him. "Of course Gaara, I'm totally out of line. Forgive me," Kankuro pleaded.

In a whirl of sand the one they called Gaara appeared by them. He looked at us and emotionlessly apologized for the disturbance. Then, he looked straight into my ever-changing eyes and said, "For one so powerful, you already show fear towards me." It sounded more like a question than a statement. "The blood, I can smell it. The foul stench comes from you gourd. The blood of many, spilled by you, is all contained in there mixed with that sand. I choose not to let my teammates be in unnecessary harm. I know I can protect them, but not when they foolishly let someone as powerful as you sneak up on them. It is not fear I have shown, but concern. Looking in your eyes I see you never learned, or perhaps were never taught, the difference," I finished still on guard.

The kanji for love, torn into his skin at some point, formed a scar over his left eye. Dark circles were around his eyes, showing the effects of insomnia. I drew one conclusion but quickly threw it out. 'That would be impossible…' He starred at me for a moment but then simply turned and walked away, the others sheepishly following.

"Wait! Who are you?" Sasuke shouted after them. "Who me?" the girl asked hopefully. "No, him," Sasuke pointed at the strikingly red hair. Gaara stopped and turned around. "I am Gaara of the Desert, and I am curious about you as well." "I'm Sasuke Uchiha," he replied coolly. "And you?" he asked, his eyes burning into me. "I am Ami Disamaru," I replied simply. "I bet you're dying to know my name right?" Naruto shouted excitedly. "I couldn't care less," Gaara stated as he walked away.

"Wait!" Sakura piped up for the first time through the whole ordeal. "As ninja from the Hidden Village of the Sand you must have an official reason to be here. You need to have permission. So, what is your reason?" she asked, trying to sound official. "Are you guys clueless? We have permission. We're here for the chunin exams," the blonde said as she held up their passes. "Hey! We know about those! We're going to be taking them," Naruto said matter-of-factly. "Really? I look forward to meeting you in battle," Gaara said directly to Sasuke and I before taking his final leave.

"Well, that was an eventful afternoon," Sakura commented. "Totally! That guy with that weird wrap on his back has it coming. And the shorter one with red hair, he gives me the creeps," Naruto said boisterously. "Ami, what do you think of that guy? Did something seem off to you?" Sasuke asked. "Yes, something is different about him. I have to admit though, he's pretty cute for a red-head," Those last words escaped before I could stop them. Wanting to avoid the conversation that would surely follow I took the opportunity to disappear into a whirl of shadow to teleport to my favorite spot on my roof, all the while wondering why I'd even thought it in the first place.


	4. Anger of the Beast

**MasterOfFate- I'm really glad you like it. Just to let you know, I do have ideas for the chunin exams that I hope you like as much as you liked the first few parts.**

**Diamond-Rose Sisters- Haha, indeed he is. I'm a sucker for putting the title in the story somewhere. In all of my ideas/old stories I do it. All the Gaara ones, the Lee one, and the L one. Man, I hope I have time to write them all.**

Pretty Cute for a Red-Head(Part 4: Anger of the Beast)

'Soft? Why is my spot soft?' ~Uh Ami…~ I looked down to see another pair of legs under mine. I jumped up faster that a hand on a hot stove pulls away. "What are you doing here? I'm sorry for the rude awakening but this is my roof and that is the spot I always sit on when I want to think or star gaze. Please, explain yourself," I rushed the words out.

I hadn't even looked to see who it was yet, as I was averting my pink eyes from embarrassment. Finally deciding to face the stranger I looked up to see strikingly red hair and piercing eyes. They weren't quite blue, but they weren't quite green either. Teal didn't seem right, but neither did aqua. I would decide on a color later. What was important now was the one I had discovered was Gaara, and that he was the one I had landed in the lap of.

"I was simply sitting here. I did not know this was your roof, or that you usually sat in this particular spot. I apologize. I do wonder though how you did that. You were right on top of me and my sand did nothing," Gaara mused. "Perhaps because my arrival was instantaneous your sand couldn't react in time. You still have not told me why you are here," I pressed. I did not like people I didn't know being on my roof let alone being as close as I had been to them. Ever since I had been dragged into 'his' life I developed a space rule. Everyone was at an arm's length away from me at all times.

"My sand is instantaneous. It always shields me at all times. Watch," he said as he quickly drew a kunai. I immediately put myself on guard. Instead of turning on me as I predicted he went to stab himself in the wrist. An unexplained concern rose in me. I did not know him, but I didn't want to see him hurt himself, that was not the kind of behavior I could be passive about. Before I could act I witnessed what he had initially wanted to demonstrate. Sand immediately guarded against the kunai. "Even I cannot get through it. Why would it allow you to pass so easily?" he questioned accusingly.

"Why are you here?" I asked, completely ignoring his accusations. I was tired of him sitting there as if he wasn't on my property uninvited. He looked at me with an emotionless face. "I don't like people and I wanted to be alone," he said. That was reasonable enough. "Well, I am here now and I wasn't planning on leaving as this is my place, so if you want to be alone you will need to go someone else," I said matter-of-factly.

After a few moments of silence I realized he wasn't leaving. I let out an exasperated sigh as I asked, "Can I at least have my spot back?" Without saying a word he simply scooted over a few feet. I sat down with my legs criss-crossed Indian style. We sat there for hours without saying a word. We had been there so long that the moon was now high in the sky.

His presence was starting to annoy me. He just sat there like he owned the place, like I wouldn't or couldn't make him leave. I had to figure out more about him. Even if he wouldn't answer my questions they might bother him enough to make him leave so I could sit without all these thoughts buzzing about me.

"Earlier, when you were scolding your teammate, you threatened his life. I could see in your eyes that you meant it. Why would you hold such contempt for someone in your team? They are the key to your success on missions and to further yourself as a shinobi," I prodded. He looked at me with an empty stare and said, "He is not just my teammate, but also my older brother. Temari, the girl, is my older sister."

'That makes what he said even stranger. I know siblings tend to threaten to kill each other when they are getting on each other's nerves, but the threats are nearly always empty. The only exception I know of is Sasuke, but in that case Itachi killed his entire family and clan.' ~This boy is quite interesting. Spend enough time near him and I'm sure you'll find out the answers to all of your questions.~ Anei always seemed to know more than she would tell me about.

"I do not care about anyone. They are unimportant to me. Love for others is vulnerability. For true success, for me to fulfill my purpose I must love only myself. Idiots like my siblings are annoying inconveniences I must deal with until they are no longer of use," he continued coldly.

His answer stunned me into silence. He fired a question of his own at me, which caught me off guard. "You told me I didn't know the difference between fear and concern. You are correct. I have to ask, what is?" I sat there for a moment, pondering how to answer him.

"You do not wish to answer? Or are you afraid to?" he asked calmly. "I am not afraid, I am just thinking of the right way to answer. You don't scare me as much as you seem to wish," I informed him coolly. A few moments passed before the right words came to me.

"Fear is an emotion that consumes. It fills you to the brim, triggering survival instincts. Other thoughts are tainted by it. It clouds even the most rational minds and drives people to do things they might not normally do. Concern, on the other hand, is not as self focused generally. While you can fear for someone else, that person has to be very close to you and have to be in big trouble before it is sparked. Concern usually isn't as big of a deal. It's more of a worry, generally for someone else or for something outside of you, such as my concern for my teammates, or my concern about my future. Concern generally isn't imminent where fear is. More examples include how people fear death but are concerned for their health. Do you understand?" I wasn't sure if I had gotten it quite right.

"That is an adequate explanation," he said before sinking back into silence. I sighed. It was not that I didn't like the quiet; it was that this strange boy was sitting on my roof, perplexing the hell out of me. As the sun started to peak up over the horizon I slipped down through the window into my room. I got out a clean version of my outfit and then went into the bathroom to take a quick shower.

Fifteen minutes later I stepped back into my room in nothing but a towel and ran into none other than the boy who had been on my roof. "What the hell do you think you're doing Gaara? Get out of here! Now!" I screamed at him, my blood boiling and my red eyes glaring daggers at him. ~Why are you tolerating this? Kill him… Kill him now… He has defiled you…~ Anei egged me on. I was teetering on the edge of losing it when he turned and walked out. After a few deep breathes I had calmed down enough to get dressed and prepared for the rest of my day.

Gaara's POV

It had been about fifteen or twenty minutes since that girl had gone inside. She was quite the curiosity. She didn't run from me, and even allowed me to sit here on her roof. There was definitely something different about her, and I needed to know what it was. I moved through the window she had gone through before, hoping to observe her a bit more.

As I came in I heard water shut off. A few seconds later she came back to this room. Her black hair was wet and was clinging to her figure. A towel was the only thing covering her body from view. She bumped into me since she wasn't paying attention. I witnessed her violet eyes change to blood red. "What the hell do you think you're doing Gaara? Get out of here! Now!" she shouted at me. She had the audacity to shout at me. Did she not know who I was? Did she not realize the stupidity of her actions? I could kill her. I could kill her right here right now and not even blink.

~I wouldn't push it kid. It may not be as easy as it looks. For now just walk away. Not that I particularly want to stop looking at her…~ I listened to him but questioned him in my mind. 'Exactly what are you implying Shukaku? Also, I would appreciate it if you'd stop being such a pervert. It's unbecoming.' ~I'm implying she's more than meets the eye. Figure the rest out for yourself. And don't tell me not to be a pervert. I'm stuck in your body, and you don't ever do or even look at anything. I take what I can get.~ 'You are disgusting.'

I pushed his thoughts away as best as I could. I was tired of him constantly tainting my thoughts whenever a girl crossed my path. I was sitting in a chair downstairs in the kitchen when I heard Ami's door open and slam shut.

Ami's POV

I was still angry as I walked down to fix myself a quick breakfast. 'He's still here…' ~Kill him… Kill him…~ Anei's bloodlust was mixing with my own anger at his actions. "Why are you still here? You should leave. After what you did, spying on me like that…" I trailed off, fighting to control myself. "I did not mean to see what I did. I just wanted to find out more about your power," he said nonchalantly. His lack of remorse was not helping. Grabbing a granola bar I headed for the front door and he followed. "I have to train with my team today. So if you'd mine following someone else I'd really appreciate it," I said as I opened my front door.

"Hey Ami, I just came to walk with you to practice…" Sasuke trailed off as he saw the red-head walk out of my house. Without a goodbye or anything, Gaara vanished in a whirlwind of sand. After walking for a few moments in an awkward silence Sasuke piped up, "So… What was he doing at your house?" The accusation stung worse than a kunai in the back. Once again, my anger flared. "What you are suggesting is not only impossible, but it is an awful terrible showing of what you think of me," I spat before dashing away with inhuman speed.

At the training ground I began with taijutsu, hoping to use up all of my anger energy. This idea wasn't working out so well. I ended up cracking a few trees in half and smashing the training posts. "Ami? Are you ok? You seem really upset," Naruto asked with concern. "Leave her alone Naruto, she just needs some space right now," Sakura warned. "Ami's my best friend, I'm going to help her anyway I can," he said while performing the single worst act he could have while I was in my condition.

He had put his arm around my shoulders. A simple enough gesture to most, it was usually a death sentence for whoever did it to me. That broke the strand of control I was keeping. My eyes drained of color, leaving them pure white other than the pupils and the circles around the irises. A busy black tail sprouted from me as well as a pair of black wolf ears. My teeth sharpened into fangs and my nails became claws. I was still the dominant mind, but I was using Anei more now, letting her powers fuse with me. Watching in horror as this happened all of my teammates started backing away from me in fear.

"What's the matter everyone? Scared? Good, you should be," a demonic voice came out instead of my natural one. Immediately I grabbed Naruto's arm and threw him across the field right into a tree trunk. He hit it with astounding force, causing it to fall over. Next I turned to Sasuke, "So, the mighty Uchiha is frightened? You talk so tough but can't back it up. I'll teach you to regret making smug remarks at other people's expense."

I sprinted straight at him, my snow white eyes glaring into his activated Sharingan. They weren't any help, as my movements were too fast even for the legendary kekkei genkai. He managed to dodge a few punches but I soon landed a kick straight in his gut. It sent him flying across the field until he skidded to a stop. Sakura jumped in front of him, hoping to shield him from me. I laughed at her efforts, "You pathetic little girl. What hope do you have of standing up to me? You can't do anything. All you're good for is standing there looking frightened as the rest of us actually do something about what's happening. Trying to protect him is futile." I could see my words stung her but I didn't care. I was out for blood.

A swift punch in the face dealt with the pink haired kunouchi easily. Once she was out of my way I turned my attention back to Sasuke. "Such a shame. The last of your clan and you're such a weakling. What would they think of you? What would your parents say? How does it make you feel know that Itachi was right?" I was trying to heart him. I wanted him to lash out at me. My plan worked. He ran at me in rage at my words. I smirked at his feeble attempt to smite me. I jumped over him with a flip and then stopped him in his tracks.

Sasuke screamed in pain as I manipulated his shadow. Pulling it away from him was causing him excruciating pain. I let out an inhuman laugh when Naruto rose to face me again. "Ami! Stop this right now or I'll make you stop," he threatened. I did not care what he did. In fact, I could go for having some more fun. Just as he began to rush towards me, something, or someone, stopped him.

"Ami, I know you can control this. You need to get a hold of yourself," Kakashi had arrived late as usual. I glared over at him. "You're hurting your friends. Stop and see what you're doing. I know you don't really want this," Kakashi tried to soothe me, all the while prepared to fight me himself. "Friends..?" I mumbled. I met the eyes of all my teammates as I dropped to my knees. The ears and tail disappeared, my nails and teeth went back to normal, and my eyes became a deep sapphire blue. "I… I'm sorry…" I barely managed to say. Noticing a foreign object I shot my hand out, snatching it right out of the air.


	5. A Friend?

**heartlessRayne- Thanks for the review. Don't worry, here I am writing more. **

**Diamond-Rose Sisters- Thanks! Your use of coolio made my day. **

**Gaara-frenzy- Thanks for reviewing! I'm updating right now, which I hope is soon enough. :P **

**Thanks to all of the reviews I've gotten for this story. They really make me happy and make me want to write more. This means the more I get the more/faster I write! No pressure. Heh.**

Pretty Cute for a Red-Head(Part 5: A Friend?)

'Sand?' I felt the distinct gritty texture between my fingers. "Ami? Are you ok now?" Naruto asked as a small line of blood trailed from the corner of his mouth. "Am I alright? I should be asking all of you that. I can't believe I lost my control like that. Is everyone alright?" I asked, hoping they wouldn't hold a grudge against me. "I've had worse, trust me," Naruto assured. Sakura was at Sasuke's side, but he sat up and shrugged her off. "I'm fine," he spat in frustration. He seemed angrier at himself than at me. "I'm alright…" Sakura whispered, still afraid of what I might do.

"Well, I think that's enough for everyone for today. You should all go rest up after that. Ami, if you could stay a moment later, I would like to talk with you," Kakashi informed us all. Once everyone else had left he walked up and sat down beside me. "What is it Kakashi-sensai? What is my punishment for what I have done?" I asked him, expecting the worse. I may not even be able to participate in the exams now.

"Ami, when I was assigned to be Team 7's sensai I was informed by the Hokage himself about the information on all of you guys. I was told your backgrounds, your powers, your strengths, and your weaknesses. I want you to know this because I want you to know that I know about what happened to you. It was horrible and no matter what you have inside you, you did not deserve for that to happen. If there is anything you need to talk about, or any specific training you want to pursue, just let me know. If I cannot help you I will find someone who can. As for what happened today, all I want is for you to tell me why it happened."

"It all started yesterday when a team of sand nin showed up for the chunin exams. One of them was picking on Konohamaru while another was sitting idly by, not caring about what he did. Sasuke and I got him to drop Konohamaru, but then he turned on Sasuke. Before a fight broke out their team captain showed up. He was so different… His hair is blood red, and his eyes have the darkest insomnia rings I've seen. They might be even worse than mine. He also has a tattoo or scar of the kanji for love above his left eye. He stopped his teammate in his tracks just by his mere presence," I said with the bafflement showing through.

"Later I went to my roof to sit and think like I do eventually every day and to my surprise this guy was sitting there. I tried, and failed, to find out more about him. All I did was expand the knowledge I already had about him. He doesn't seem to have emotions, and he seems plain ignorant of all of them except for fear. Once it was morning I went inside to take a shower and get ready for the day. When I was done I walked into my room and he was standing there! The nerve of him… I almost lost it right there but then he walked out and I tried to calm down. When I was all dressed I went downstairs and he was still there. I left and he followed, of course that's implied at this point, and Sasuke was standing at my front door. He made some disturbing connections and accused me of them. This worsened my already teetering psyche, and then Naruto touching me set me off," I finished my summary of events.

"That is all I need to know. You are dismissed as well. And if this boy is how you say he is, and who I believe he is, then please, be careful," Kakashi told me. I nodded and added, "Thanks, Kaka-sensai." With that he was gone and I was on my way to the source of the material I still held in my hand. I hoped when I found the prime suspect that it wouldn't end in confrontation. Not because I was afraid of him, but because I was tired of fighting.

As I searched for the sand manipulator I ran into his puppeteer brother. "Hey there, what's your name?" he said in a flirty manner. I honestly did not understand. All of the guys seemed attracted to me but I couldn't see a clear reason why. I wasn't perfect or absolutely beautiful or anything. I was a C cup, nothing too large. Sure, I was fit, but so was every other kunouchi. Whatever the reason it was annoying.

"Not a talker, huh? I can dig that," Kankuro said suggestively. "I don't have time for your pointless flirting. Where is your brother?" I asked. "What? Gaara? Trust me; you don't want to find him. Someone as hot as you should stay with me. I'll make sure the big bad wolf doesn't get you," he said with a wink. "Ugh. If you aren't going to tell me then just leave me alone," I was tired of his antics. I may have appeared calm, but the storm from earlier was just under the surface. "If you have such a death wish, maybe I could help you out. I never did get your brat teammates back for yesterday, did I?" Kankuro snapped as he reached for his puppet.

"Kankuro, you idiot, what did I tell you yesterday?" that distinct cold voice rang out. Our necks snapped towards the owner of that voice. "Sorry Gaara, I was just… She's looking for you," Kankuro said in defeat as he turned and walked away. My eyes still held a glint of red as Gaara turned to me.

"What do you want?" he asked calmly. "As if you don't know. I'm here about this," I dumped the sand out of my hand. He stared at it as if I having it meant nothing. "Well? Would you like to explain why you're spying on me? How much did you see?" I pressed as if this was a criminal interrogation. "Enough." That one word rang out in my head.

His tone was flat, and no emotion could be detected through it. His eyes were equally mysterious. Despite how well he was hiding his reaction I could make an educated guess at the thoughts that were racing through his head. He thought I was a freak, a monster, that I would kill him if he crossed me. Maybe now that he would surely fear me he would stop following me. For some reason he had not moved or gone on with his day.

"What? Don't you have something important to do? Wasn't the show good enough the first time or would you like a first had reenactment?" I threatened with control swaying in the balance. He studied me for a bit before making his decision. "We should not fight here. It would draw a lot of attention and would get us kicked out of the exams," he said finally. "Why don't you tell me the real reason? Why don't you just go on and say it. Tell me I'm a freak and monster. Run away in fright. You put up a blank and tough façade but even your bloodlust can be overridden by fear," I said as I began to shake slightly. I was not sure why this still upset me so much. At this point in my life I should've been used to it.

"I will not run from you. Not only am I unafraid, but I am also not a hypocrite." Though his voice was smooth a clinch of his fist gave him away. He thought we were the same. That had been one of my first conclusions when I had first met him, but I thought that would be impossible. The movement of the sand, the huge chakra, the black circles around his eyes, even the attitude could be easily related to having a demon sealed within. But he could also just be a powerful sociopath that suffers from insomnia, which somehow seemed more likely.

"I see you doubt what I say. Here, let's walk. I will tell you what you wish to know since I have spied on you," Gaara compromised with me. I nodded and began to walk next to him at my safety distance. "To answer your primary question, yes, I do have a demon sealed inside me. It is the One-Tailed Sand Demon Shukaku. Which do you have?" he asked with a sideways glance at me, as if to make sure I wasn't running.

"I have the Four-Tailed Shadow Demon Aneikami. I call her Anei for short. Why did you insist on following me and spying on me?"

"I could tell there was a hidden power in you. I wanted to learn about it. Hunting and killing weak prey is pointless and will not serve my purpose. Why did react in such a way to both what the one named Uchiha and the blonde one did?"

"You could not tell? Well, as for what Naruto did, I will leave that question unanswered. It is related to my past and I do not wish to speak of that. In regards to Sasuke, he made some distasteful conclusions as to why you were in my house."

We walked for a few moments before he said anymore. "I do not understand." "What? What don't you understand?" I questioned, confused by his confusion. "What exactly did Uchiha say? I do not know what you mean by distasteful conclusions."

"I see… How should I put this without being completely blunt? He assumed that you had walked out of my house in the early morning wearing the same thing you were wearing yesterday and I came out flustered, cleaned up, and fresh. It implies that certain events transpired between us; events that I do not appreciate being assumed about me."

Another blank look from Gaara told me he still was not sure what it was we had supposedly done. I let out an exasperated sigh and prepared to just say what I had to be said. "He thought we'd had sex, Gaara." A faltered step was the only sign that he'd been shocked by what I said. Trying to change the subject I remembered something he'd said earlier. "So, do you really want to kill me? Should I be on my guard right now, preparing for an attack?"

"I already said now would not be a time for fighting. As for wanting to kill you, my answer should automatically be yes. It is my purpose. Killing keeps me alive, shows that I deserve to be here," he said almost as if his response was prerecorded. Despite his words, I somehow felt that he held no contempt for me. Looking into his eyes I realized why he would believe something like what he'd just said.

If I hadn't found a friend, if I hadn't found Naruto, I would be exactly like him. I would have been alone my whole life. Without anyone or anything to support me or guide me I would result in following the things people called me. I would have had no one to turn to except Anei. Now I had even more friends. I had Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi-sensai. Looking deep into Gaara's sea foam, no, aquamarine, oh I could never decide the correct color, eyes I realized he'd never found that friend. He had walked alone his entire life and this was the only path he'd found open. Perhaps I could help him like Naruto had helped me so long ago.

_I sat in the shade of a slide in the park. Hot tears fell from my eyes. Whenever I came around the other kids always yelled and screamed and ran away. I just wanted to play… Was I really so scary? Maybe if I wore a mask they wouldn't recognize me and they'd play with me without noticing it was me. I coughed into another sob when I discovered I wasn't alone anymore. "Hey! Who are you? Why are you hiding under there?" a loud blonde shouted at me. "I… I'm Ami. I was hiding because all the other kids run when they know I'm here. They scream and say I'm a monster…" I mumbled, hoping he wouldn't run too. "Why would they run for a cute little girl like you? You don't scare me Ami. Don't you worry, you can be my friend!" I looked up at him, rubbing the tears away. "Friend?"_


	6. Ultimate Prank of Dooming Embarrassment

**Gaara-frenzy- Thanks! All the positive reinforcement from the reviews really helps me to keep writing these. And I'm trying to get as much done as possible before I get super busy with school. Sorry when the update rate slows, I'm hoping a speedy one now will make up for it. **

**heartlessRayne- Yeah, I was going for cuteness especially at the end. And I was going for laughs at the Gaara clueless of sex part. Heh. **

**Diamond-Rose Sisters- I love how you say chappie. It makes me think of British people for some reason. And British people and their accents make me smile.**

**Sorry I haven't updated in a little while but this is my last weekend home before I move to my dorm for college and I'm trying to spend as much time with my boyfriend and friends before I leave. And sorry that it's kind of shorter than most of my other parts. Also, just for everyone to know, I put a poll up that I'd like everyone to check out!**

Pretty Cute for a Red-Head(Part 6: The Ultimate Prank of Dooming Embarrassment)

Snapping back to the present I realized Gaara had just been starring at me. "Sorry, I zoned out. So, anymore questions?" I asked. "Just one: why was Uchiha so upset about me being in your house? How is that any of his business? Is he your boyfriend or something?" He sounded almost offended by how Sasuke had reacted.

"First off, that was more than one question. No, Sasuke is not my boyfriend but he does have a huge crush on me. I don't know why he thinks it's his business. And he was probably upset because he has a crush on me and he views you not only as an opponent in the upcoming exams, but also a rival for me."

"Why would he think that?" he questioned. My eyes turned a light pink along with my cheeks. "Oh who knows, probably because most of the other guys I know have crushes on me too so maybe he just assumes all guys do," I quickly said while trying to avoid eye contact. I did not want to tell him what I had said to my teammates about him after first seeing him.

He seemed to accept the answer as we continued walking down the street. 'I never really thought that he might be interested in me like most of the other guys were. Oh I hope not. It doesn't matter how cute he is, he's still a guy and guys are all the same. Bad news, that's all guys are.' ~I'd be more concerned about Shukaku then about his gender if I were you.~ 'I will not let him rot alone. He became what I almost did… Do you really think Shukaku could beat you, Anei?' ~Well… It is possible, but in the end I am stronger than he is. Do what you must, but be careful.~

As we were walking I noticed where we had ended up. "Do you want to get some ramen?" I asked him. It came out a bit awkwardly. I had never really been that sociable myself. He looked over, noticing the building we were standing next to and simply walked in.

"Naruto, funny seeing you here," I said sarcastically to the blonde. "Ami-chan! Hey, about earlier, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to set you off like that. I should've known better," he said, his big goofish grin fading with each word. "No, I'm sorry Naruto. I shouldn't have lost it like that. It isn't your fault, ok?" I reassured him. He perked back up as he dove into his forth bowl of ramen.

"Hey, isn't that one of those sand punks? Why are you hanging out with him? He's going to be our opponent in the upcoming exams!" Naruto shouted into my ear. "I realize that Naruto, I was just trying to be hospitable to our guests. Or at least the one who isn't a total asshole," I referenced Kankuro. "Hah! Yeah, that guy has another thing coming next time I run into him."

We ate in silence for a few moments before Naruto piped back up. "Hey guys, I have a plan. We could pull this huge prank on Sasuke and Make-up Face. What do you think Ami?" "That sounds like a great way to spend the afternoon," I chimed thinking of the sweet revenge on could have on them. "This is going to be the best prank ever. Only one thing is uncertain. Gaara, you in?" The red head slowly turned towards the blonde, neither of them realizing how alike they were. He seemed to be calculating whether or not it would be worth it. Finally he nodded. I couldn't read his reaction but I decided to roll with it.

We all got up and started walking again. "So Naruto, dish. What's the big plan?" I asked as my bright blue eyes betrayed my curiosity. "Alright so first off…"

Naruto's POV

I could barely contain a laugh as I snatched the clothes and towel out of the steamy room. The plan had worked perfectly. Kankuro had already been snared, now Sasuke was the only missing piece of the puzzle. A nozzle squeaked as the water came to a stop. "Hey, where'd my stuff go?" A snickered escaped me as Sasuke turned the corner. "Hey! Give those back you idiot!" he yelled in vain. I booked it as he began to run after me. Once we were outside I knew he was done for. "Ami! Now!" I shouted. Running head first into a black hole I let out the laugh I'd been holding in.

Gaara's POV

'Why did I agree to this? This is idiotic. Sure, my brother deserves this for his perversions and I could care less about this Sasuke guy, but I see no real point in this.' ~That's right, there is no point. One is already ensnared in sand, soon another will be as well. Why don't you just crush them?~ 'This is true… But I can't just crush them like that. There is no pleasure in killing someone who can't fight back.' ~Ugh, this is about that girl isn't it? Well, if you're going to stop killing at least get in her pants, will you?~ 'You are a total pervert as always. I have no plans of having sexual relations with her.' ~Ha, some of your thoughts beg to differ.~ 'Shut up. You are so annoying.' ~You're just mad that I'm right. Don't forget, one mate for life, that's how the demon thing works, so you better pick a good one. She seems pretty good to me.~ 'God damn perverted raccoon. I need no mate, I love only myself.' ~Shoot, you don't even do that. I get no love at all.~ 'Just leave me alone…'

It was then a portal opened. Naruto sprinted out followed by Sasuke. I immediately wrapped sand around his ankles, stopping him in his tracks. "Nice job Gaara! Now all we have to do is wait for Ami," Naruto said. "Naruto, when I get out of this you are so dead!" Uchiha raged. "Little brother, why?" Kankuro asked as tears streamed down his make-up free face. I said nothing as the loud blonde just laughed at his teammate and apparent rival. Ami had better hurry for this kid's sake. I couldn't take much more without just killing him.

Ami's POV

"Please girls, follow me. I assure you this isn't a waste of your time. You know you can trust me Sakura. Ino, this will make your day," I had to keep ushering the fan girls towards the ultimate destination. What Naruto had deemed the Ultimate Prank of Dooming Embarrassment was going perfectly. After teleporting the targets to the designated spot I rounded up all the Sasuke fan girls I could find. Making out a few figures in the distance, one with unmistakable red hair, I turned to walk backwards. Acting like a tour guide I led them to the finish and the completion of the best prank Naruto had pulled off yet. "Now, if you look to my right you will see a store, on my left a sushi bar. If you'll turn your attention directly in front of me you will see two completely nude shinobi. One of them including the much sought after Sasuke,"

After many shouts and sighs the girls had all been too stunned to move. "Ami-chan, there you are! Isn't this perfect? Now I know one way I'll always have Sasuke beat." "That is just too much information, Naruto-kun," I added the friendly suffix. It made me happy to be able to say that again. "Alright Gaara-kun, you should let them go now, at least give them a bit of a head start running," I tried out the suffix on him. His expression changed slightly, but to what I couldn't tell. I looked down to see the sand receding from the struggling boys' legs. They shot away as fast as their legs could take them and I smiled at Gaara. It may not have been much, but I was making progress.


	7. The Festival: Boys, Boys, Boys

**Gaara-frenzy- Everyone in Konoha knows about her eyes, but I was actually planning on Gaara asking about them in this chapter. You're just one step ahead of me. :P**

**heartlessRayne- Ha! I know. Ami didn't see though, that's why she turned around like she did. So her eyes were saved. **

**Diamond-Rose Sisters- You're welcome about the British comment. Here's a new chappie for you!**

**Random sidenote, does anyone know if you can put completely original works up on here or if there is another site like this but for original works? I have some poems and short stories and other things from my Creative Writing class and just from when I'm bored or inspired that I wouldn't mind sharing. Also, I realized that my poll wasn't up on my profile, but I fixed that and it's up now. Please vote! If you have questions feel free to message me. Heck, feel free to message me about this story if you want. Reviews welcome as well; even criticisms, as long as they're constructive and not just hate spews. Like I told my Creative Writing teacher, the comments you put on the side are my favorite part. **

Pretty Cute for a Red-Head(Part 7:The Festival: Boys, Boys, Boys)

It had been almost a month since I had first met Gaara. The Chunin exams would begin the day after tomorrow. Now I sat on my roof with Gaara, as had become our ritual for the past almost month. We would sit in periods of silence with sprinkles of question and answer sessions. I felt as if I was making progress not only with Gaara, but with myself.

"There is one question I haven't asked you. It is about your intriguing eyes. Why do they change color like they do? I have figured out it is mood related by mere observation, but the cause still escapes me," his cool voice said. Everything he said and did still seemed emotionless, but I could see subtle changes. He was not as quick to jump to threatening people's lives. The number of innocents he killed during his stay had been declining, just barely, but still declining.

"I am not very sure why they change like they do either. All I know is that they started changing the day Anei was sealed within me. Like Shukaku made your hair the color of the blood he craved Anei disturbed my eyes, causing them to never settle like an ever changing shadow," I replied easily. I was now becoming slightly more open and easy going. I still couldn't be touched by people but I was beginning to at least try to fix what had been broken.

"I see. Your story of your first test as a genin was quite interesting," he commented on the story I had finished a few moments ago. "You really do not care for Uchiha? He seems to be very popular with all the other girls in this town. Kankuro talks about it all the time how whenever he tries to talk to the girls in this town they all just ramble about 'their Sasuke-kun'. I think they just need an excuse to get him to leave them alone."

"I do not like Sasuke as anything more than a friend and teammate. Your brother is correct though, he is quite the hit around town. Almost every girl is head over heels for him. I do feel bad for him and his past and I do not wish harm on him, I just wish he'd get over me," I finished in an exasperated tone. "His past? I had wondered about that look in his eye…" Gaara trailed but asked no more about it. "You'd be surprised at the amount of damaged teens in this town," I commented.

"What keeps you from liking him? Even my sister seems to think he is in some way attractive." I hadn't expected that question. I looked away from him, staring down at the floor of my roof. "I don't want to talk about it…" I mumbled. I couldn't tell him. No, only Naruto, the Hokage, Iruka, and now Kakashi knew of all the events she had gone through. And what would he think of me after he found out?

"Fine. Our pasts are off limits then. I understand," he replied. In a way he did, but in another he had no idea, and he never could. Trying to change the subject, I asked him a question, "Have you heard of the festival that is being thrown tomorrow in honor of the Chunin Exams beginning?"

"Yes. My siblings talk about going. I have never attended a festival, too many people for my tastes. I do wonder what they do there sometimes, but I've never really investigated before. I tend to prefer the shadows were people don't see me," he said. "I have never been to one either," I informed him.

He looked over to me, his face revealing nothing but his eyes held a slight glimmer. His reply was carefully measured, "Perhaps we should go to see what it is like. After the exams we may never have the chance again." Something was hidden in what he said. It was as if he had an actual reason for believing we may not be around for another festival despite knowing we could both defend ourselves easily. I would figure it out later. I t was obvious he wouldn't tell me the truth just yet.

"That sound like a fine idea," I answered as my curiosity got the better of me. I had grown quite fond of the darkly mysterious red head but I still had reservations. Why had I told him yes? 'This is stupid, accepting an invitation like this from a guy. I should know better. I shouldn't let this happen.' ~Stop scolding yourself for wanting a life. Jeez, if it gets anymore boring in here I may just die of boredom.~ 'What a pity that would be.' ~You and the sarcasm. And you wonder why you don't have many friends.~

I blocked her out as best as I could as we watched the sunrise. As had become customary he left and I went inside to ready myself for the day. We arranged this to avoid any further incidents. I went to the training grounds for the last training session before the exam. Kakashi-sensai had us doing light workouts so as to save our energy for tomorrow. After letting us out early I began to walk towards town, my mind racing about what I was to wear tonight and what would happen.

"Hey Ami-chan! I have a question for you," Naruto ran after me. "What is it Naruto-kun?" I asked curiously. Suddenly with a slight dusty gust Gaara was there. He had never done that before, so it caught me a bit off guard. "Oh uh, hey Gaara. Naruto was just about to ask me something. Go ahead," I encouraged him.

After getting over the initial shock of Gaara's sudden appearance Naruto came out with it, "Will you go to the festival with me tonight?" His cheeks turned a light pink and he glanced away from me. "I'm afraid I'll have to decline Naruto-kun. I already said yes to someone else."

He was baffled by this answer. "What? I know Sasuke didn't beat me here. He didn't ask you yesterday did he? I told him I'd beat him and ask you first so you'd go with me and not him…" he sounded utterly dejected. "It wasn't Sasuke who asked. It was Gaara." Now he was even more surprised.

"I have an idea. You could ask Hinata to go with you," I hinted. He looked confused, "Hinata? Why her?" How could he still not realize? "You are such an idiot sometimes, you know? Just go ask her," I joked with him. He gave a slight shrug and walked towards the Hyuga compound.

"Why did you not go with him?" Gaara questioned, speaking up for the first time since his arrival. "Because I already told you I was going with you. I would not go back on my word. I will go with you just as I said I would," I promised him.

Gaara's POV

She promised she would go with me and no one else. I wondered how long that promise would last. Promises are only empty words after all. Soon the dark-haired boy, who had eyes like mine, walked up to her. Shooting a glare at me and then gazing back at her he repeated the same question as the loud blonde. Here was where she turned back on her words. This boy every other girl swooned at would surely get her to go with him instead of me, the hated monster.

"No Sasuke, I'm going with Gaara. And yes, as a matter of fact, Naruto did ask me before you," she informed him with a smirk. She told him no? 'I am puzzled as to why, but relieved. Wait? Why should I care what this girl does? It is none of my concern. I could care less.' ~If that were true you wouldn't have asked her in the first place.~ His voice rang in my head. I ignored him and simply continued walking with Ami. I just wanted to watch her, to gage her power, I lied to myself. I knew what was happening, but I had to stop it. No more Yashumaru's could happen ever again. Yet I walked along her side. Killing her would be sweet when the time was right.

The day continued much as it had started. A variety of boys asked Ami to tonight's festivities. They all had their own little tricks too. One appeared as an adorable puppy and asked her that way. Another sent a note with two of the most amazing butterflies I'd ever seen. Their base color was black but their markings changed colors much like her eyes. She rejected each one, but needless to say I did not appreciate their efforts.

Shukaku continued to pester me as well. ~I can feel that jealousy.~ ~I know what you're really thinking about.~ His constant pestering was getting on my nerves. I was already annoyed when some other idiot boy tried asking Ami out. But this time was different.

"Shikamaru, you did not just use your shadow possession jutsu on me. You know I hate that," Ami scowled. "I just wanted to ask you something. And maybe try something out," he said lazily. "Why not just find me and ask me like a normal person. Get me flowers or chocolates or something or just walk up and ask it, instead of trapping me like this," she seemed upset. "Too troublesome," was his simple reply. I was now glaring at this boy. I did not like him or the looks of what was happening.

Ami's POV

"Typical Shika answer," I sighed. "Alright, ask away. You already have me here." He took a step forward, causing me to as well. Shadows were supposed to be my thing, I controlled them. Being stuck in my own weapon was aggravating to say the least. His possession could not last long with me, and it only worked at all when he caught me off guard. His feet moved forward again as did mine. I didn't like how close he was getting.

"First, I think I will see if this works. Odds are it will," he tagged on at the end as he leaned towards me and my body reacted against it's will. 'This imbecile! I'm going to kill him in exactly 2.43 seconds when this jutsu wears off.' I shut my eyes tight as if not seeing it would cause it to stop. I prepared for the inevitable when a foreign substance met my lips instead. I hacked and sputtered as the gritty texture seeped into my mouth.

I opened my eyes to see a sand wall between Shikamaru and I. It slammed against him, knocking him into a tree. "Stay away from her," came Gaara's low warning. Shikamaru knew he would not get another so he turned tail and left, as the smartest shinobi would.

After regaining my composure I turned to Gaara, "Thank you. I really hate that jutsu of his." Gaara's irritation was showing plainly on his face. Though normally placid, anger and other forms of it seemed to be the only emotions Gaara let himself show.

Walking into town to find an outfit Kankuro ran into us. "Hey Ami, I wanted to ask you if-" A rumbling growl from his younger sibling cut him off and silenced him. "Come on, we're going to our hotel," Gaara said as he drug his older brother away. Left in a slight awe I stood there, hoping tonight would go better than the day had.


	8. The Festival: After Party Mistakes

**heartlessRayne- Yeah, she wasn't too happy about the situation herself. **

**Gaara-frenzy- Ha! Yeah, pretty much. Also, this festival chapter is going to be a zinger. I hope you're all ready for it.**

**SammPaglia- Thank you so much! I plan to keep going unless I stop getting reviews/people stop reading it.**

**Ok guys, I'm begging now. Please take the poll I put up! I really need the input. It's on my profile and it's about what other stories I should start writing. If you want to know more about the story other than the name and the match-up(which are on the poll) then just message me and ask, I will gladly tell you anything you want to know about the story. The reason I keep asking is I want to know which story you guys would rather read before I start editing another story. One of the options is to finish this story first so if you want that it's an option too. If you don't vote soon I'm just going to pick one and run with it!**

Pretty Cute for a Red-Head(Part 8: The Festival: After Party Mistakes)

I had been wandering around town for a little while now. Shopping was not one of my strong points. Then I spotted my pink-haired teammate. She would know what she was doing. "Hey! Sakura, could you help me out?" She looked up to see me and gave a small smile. "What do you need help with?" she asked. "Well, I'm going to the festival tonight and I have no clue about what to wear or even where to start looking." I was a bit embarrassed about having to ask for this sort of thing.

She gave me a big grin and said, "Gaara asked you? Really?" "How did you know? I was almost afraid you would think I was going with Sasuke and get mad at me," I admitted. "Ami, I may not be the strongest shinobi, but I am smart and I do have a woman's intuition. After all our team's time together I've seen that you hold no feelings for Sasuke like I do. And ever since that red head showed up you two have spent a lot of time together. Sure, he gives me the creeps, but if he makes you happy then I say go for it."

I was a bit stunned by her words, but grateful at the same time. It was good to know that the girl who once glared daggers at me over some boy was now supporting me as a friend and teammate. "Ok, well if you need help shopping then I am your girl. Let's get to it," she said, her teal eyes holding a spark.

First she took me into just a plain fabric store. "Sakura, I can't sew and I'd really just rather buy something premade," I told her. "We aren't here to buy anything, silly. I don't know anything about your style or what colors and fabrics look good on you. So, I figured we'd start here, hold up different things, and I could get a head start in the stores when it came to picking out outfits." It sounded like a good plan so I went with it.

She tossed all sorts of colors, patterns, designs, and cloths at me. After throwing ones back herself, ones she deemed as not going with my skin tone or body shape, she asked me to put ones I plain didn't like back. I put down the purples, the stripes, the velvet, the grays, and the paisley. This left me holding blues, the reds, the greens, the flower print, the silk, and the cotton. Sakura nodded as she put them back and took me into an actual clothing store.

"Now, I'm going to pick out a couple options. If you don't like them just tell me. I won't be offended it'll just save us time. Also, I'm going to be looking for outfits for me, so don't worry, not everything I'm picking out is for you," she sounded quite official. After going through several racks she handed me a handful of outfits, two of which I put straight back, and also had a few for herself. Once she was done we went to the dressing rooms to see how they fit.

One at a time we would try on an outfit and tell the other what we thought. I could judge how things looked on people, but I couldn't take something from a rack and tell whether it was good, bad, or ugly. "No, no, no. That fringe makes it look like your stomach is twice the size it normally is," she commented about one of the outfits I was trying on. Next she was up. "Hm, I have to say no. It clashes too much with your hair color." Now it was me again. This would be the third outfit I had tried.

"Oh wow, that is perfect! You have to get that one," she said almost as a command. I was wearing a red halter top that was cut just low enough to see a bit of cleavage, but not so much that it looked whorish. The bottoms were a black ruffled skirt that hit me at mid thigh. Underneath that I wore fishnet leggings to go with the fishnet gloves I was wearing. The leggings stopped just below my knees and the gloves came up to my elbows. A pair of simple black heels with a red jewel fasten finished off the outfit. Sakura came over with a black hair clip studded with faux rubies. I pulled all my hair up and fastened it into the clip, leaving only my bangs and a few straggling pieces loose, as a last finishing touch.

"Now I have to find something that looks just as good!" she told herself. After a few more no's she had finally found her outfit. It was a white strapless dress with a light teal inlay pattern of the outline of a flower on her left side. It wrapped all the way around the dress, causing the eye to see all of her best features. The color matched her eyes so well and it complimented her petite figure. It was not skin tight, but just enough to hug her curves while the rest flowed around her. It stopped at her knees and on the opposite side of the pattern a slit went up just below her hip. A pair of peep toe wedges and a matching head band completed the look. "That's the one Sakura. It's perfect for you."

With my outfit in tow I went home to get ready and mentally prepare myself for the night. I had to be prepared to be around large groups of people. I needed to be cautious of people bumping into me. And what about Gaara? Could he handle being in such a crowd while keeping himself under control? What if he wanted more from me than just going to a festival? As I got dressed I tried to slow the downpour of unanswerable questions.

Kankuro's POV

I had managed to get away from Gaara when he went with Temari to find something to wear to the festival tonight. I was terrified he was going to kill me after what happened earlier. I don't even know why he got so upset. I just wanted to ask Ami if she knew anyone around here who would go to the festival with me. Why was that such a bad thing?

Whatever the reason, I knew now to stay away from her. I'd never seen Gaara react like that about someone. He was acting differently. I had hoped it was for the better, but I don't count almost killing me over nothing better.

All day I had found girls to ask and all of them had said no. I had decided my war paint was too intimidating so I went home and washed it off before trying again. I stumbled upon a blonde who had told me no earlier. Man, was she smokin'. Blonde hair, blue eyes, the works. She had to say yes to me now.

"Hey there sexy, want to go to the festival with me tonight?" I said smoothly. There was no way she could resist my charm. "As if, the only person I'd go to this festival with is Sasuke-kun. So get away from me, asshole." With that she turned and walked away, her high ponytail smacking me right in the face.

I twitched at the harsh rejection, my eyes stinging from the whip-like action of her hair. Maybe it'd be safer if I just went by myself…

Ami's POV

A knock resonated from the door. I ran down to answer it after putting my hair in the clip as I had done earlier. As predicted it was Gaara. "Are you ready to go?" he asked. I nodded and walked out beside him. "You look nice," he said flatly. Despite his tone I still felt complimented. If he didn't mean it he wouldn't have said it. "As do you," I returned. He was wearing a red button up shirt, with black buttons and stitching. There was a black tank top underneath I could see, as he had the buttons undone. Black jeans and red converse shoes finished his outfit. We were matching without even planning it.

From my house we continued until we reached the beginning of the festival. It didn't seem like much was happening, but maybe it was just how it always went. Soon, Naruto ran into both of us, Hinata right behind him, glowing like a shining star. "Hey Ami-chan! Gaara! This festival's pretty dull this year. I'm throwing a party over at my house. Wanna come?" He gave us both puppy dog eyes, which didn't faze Gaara in the slightest. "Sure Naruto, why not?" I said, not knowing that by the end of the night I would know the answer to that question.

We arrived at Naruto's to see everyone else was there. All the rookies and every Gaara's siblings were there. Alright guys! It's game time! Who's ready for some Truth or Dare?" Naruto shouted to his guests. 'Ugh, not this game.' I thought to myself. Almost everyone else was fully behind the game, leaving me outvoted.

"Ok, Ami-chan, since I know you didn't want to play I'll let you go first," Naruto told me. I looked around, deciding on who to torture first. "Kankuro, truth or dare?" He eyed a couple girls around the room before replying in what he must've thought was a cool manner, "Dare." I grinned evilly as the plan formed in my head. "I dare you to put on one of Temari's girliest kimono's and then run around town shouting I'm a pretty, pretty princess."

The color drained from his face, "No, I refuse!" "Oh no you don't, you can't go back on a dare!" his eldest sibling yelled at him, dragging him away to their hotel. We all followed to see the show he was about to put on for us. After coming down to the street in a lacy white kimono he began skipping around and yelling I'm a pretty, pretty princess for the whole neighborhood to hear.

Arriving back at Naruto's after we'd all calmed down from the fits of laughter we'd had, Kankuro was enraged. He was trying to plot revenge when Naruto reminded him of one of the rules, "You can't ask whoever asked you Kankuro." After hearing this he lost a bit of his edge, but quickly regained it when he had an idea.

"Gaara, truth or dare?" I did not like where this was going. "Dare," he answered. "You'll regret that dare you had me do, Ami. Gaara, I dare you to go into the closet with Ami like we're playing 7 Minutes in Heaven," he finished with a triumphant look on his face. My eyes opened wide in shock and Naruto came to my defense," Now that's not really fair. You're involving her in someone else's dare." He knew why I shouldn't do this, couldn't do this. "A dare is a dare. They have to do it."

I walked into the closet as if I was walking to the gallows. Leaning against the wall I waited for Gaara to join me. After a few minutes he came in and shut the door. "What took you so long?" I asked him, hoping he was as against this as I was. "They had to explain to me what 7 minutes in Heaven was." At first I was shocked but then I figured it wasn't something he would know. "Right well, I'm sure you don't want to do anything like that and it's completely fine with me," I added a nervous chuckle at the end.

Suddenly he was close, a lot closer than he ever had been. "I've never done this before, so I am curious…" he mumbled as he leaned in closer to me. I could feel his hot breath on me no. A pain seared through my head. I screamed as the memories flooded back like an unpredicted tsunami.

"_Shut up!" he yelled as he slapped me across the face. "Now come here and give me what I want!" he demanded. "Please… No…" I whimpered. My remark earned me another smack. My lip was now bleeding a little. He roughly grabbed me and forced me closer to him. I could feel his hot breath on my neck. It stank of alcohol. Why was he doing this? He was a jounin, a highly respected shinobi of the powerful leaf village. Maybe this was how it worked. Maybe they were all like this. "Now, are you going to protest or resist anymore?" he snarled. I shook my head, not trusting myself to say anything. "Good, now take off your shirt. I want a good view…" he trailed off. I did what he asked, tears streaming down my face the whole time. _

"Stop! Get away from me!" I screamed at the man who tormented me. The door slammed open as Naruto ran to my side, thinking Gaara had done something. Snapping back to reality I realized what was going on. Gaara glared at me as he said, "You were merely a weakness, a distraction from my purpose. I was stupid, but now I remember what I must do." He stormed out as everyone looked at me in shock.

I sank away into my shadow, away from their stares. I sat in my room, waiting for the next day, not even daring to go onto my roof in case he showed up. Lying on my bed I curled into a ball, the hot tears not ceasing until the next morning.


	9. The First Test

**SammPaglia- Yeah, you'll find out more about it later. It's pretty harsh stuff, and it's the main reason I rated my story M. Don't worry, I'll keep writing as long as someone wants me too.**

**Gaara-frenzy- Sorry it took me a while to update. College life is hectic. I was hoping I wasn't too obvious about the whole touching thing, glad I caught you off guard with it. **

**heartlessRayne- Yeah, Gaara was upset because he thought she was yelling at him when really she was seeing that man. It wasn't that she didn't like Gaara, it's that all she could see and hear was that man, so she reacted as if it were him trying to kiss her, not Gaara. **

**That was a pretty intense ending to the last chapter. I hope you guys all liked it. Also, I've decided to try to get the first part out of all of the story ideas I currently have to help the voting process. Also, the two Gaara story ideas are connected to each other. I can do one Only in my Dreams… as a first and then the other as a sequel, or do the other one as a main story and then Only in my Dreams… as a prequel. Whatever you guys want. Also don't forget about my Lee and L story ideas! I have the first part to my L story out and it's already quite popular, so check it out!**

Pretty Cute for a Red-Head(Part 9:The First Test)

My entire team avoided making eye contact with me. It was perfectly fine with me. My bloodshot sapphire eyes drilled straight into the ground. How had yesterday turned out so wrong? Why was 'He' still haunting me? What was it that kept me from controlling myself?

Kakashi, the only one who hadn't been an eye witness to what happened, kept throwing concerned glances at me. Whatever was bothering me, he knew I didn't want it brought up. We continued our silent walk until reaching the building where the first exam was to take place. Kakashi gave us his final warnings, but we were all determined to prove we could pass this exam and become chunin.

I had no worries when it came to the tests. The only thing I was afraid of right now was facing Gaara. I had promised myself that I would help him and I would save him from the darkness he lived in. After last night I had drove him further in. It wasn't even that I didn't like Gaara. After spending as much time as I had with him, I was beginning to grow fond of him; something I'd thought was impossible for me. He was helping pull me out as much as I was him. I didn't want to lose that, and I didn't want to lose him. He deserved better than what I had done.

~It is not your fault. Stop blaming yourself. Your reaction could not be helped.~ Anei tried to reassure me but I didn't want to hear it. I wanted to wallow in self pity and that was exactly what I planned to do. I had been zoning out so badly that I hadn't even noticed where we were or that Sasuke was about to get in a fight. "The exams haven't started already, have they?" I muttered. Sakura looked over at me, concern filling her eyes when she filled me in on everything I'd missed.

"No Ami, we went up to the exam room. Two guys wouldn't let us in so Sasuke went to fight them. I don't know how he missed the small genjutsu that had us on the wrong floor. Anyway, this Rock Lee guy stopped his and the other guy's kick and now he wants to fight Sasuke. Oh, and he asked me to go out with him, but ew…"

I looked over at the two fighters to see Sasuke's opponent. He had jet black bowl cut hair and the thickest eyebrows I'd ever seen. He wore a green unitard, rustic orange leg warmers, and a look of confidence. Sakura may have changed some since our time in the academy but she was still shallow. 'She still hasn't learned not to judge a book by its cover after all this time with us…'

Lee was about to clench the battle when suddenly a pinwheel caught his bandaging. Looking at the source of the pinwheel a large turtle was found. I was a bit taken aback and even more surprised when it started scolding Lee. "Hey guys, do you think maybe that turtle could be Lee's sensai?" Naruto asked. None of us quite knew the answer.

Suddenly, a guy who could've easily been mistaken for Lee's father appeared on the back of the turtle. It was almost creepy how alike they work. I could see the deep connection they shared. 'That must be his sensai. He really idolizes him.'

Naruto kept dissing him because of his appearance when suddenly he appeared behind him. 'Damn, he's fast. Faster than Kakashi.' I glanced over and saw this had Sasuke quite shaken up. Not only had this kid beaten him, but his sensai was faster than our own. "Sasuke, keep it together. The exams haven't even began yet," I attempted to calm him but he just got angrier at himself. "Everyone loses from time to time. It's not a big deal," I tried again, taking a different approach.

He glared back at me and said with venom in his words, "You don't." I was stricken by his words. How could he say that? He was there yesterday. "I've lost plenty…" I said while staring back down into the floor. Naruto shot Sasuke a look but he seemed didn't seem fazed. Without another word I began to head to the room to register.

The others followed after me after talking a bit more with Lee and the man called Guy. I didn't care to converse. I wasn't in a particularly good mood. Right outside the door Kakashi sensai was waiting for us. "I'm glad to see you all came. Even you Sakura," he commented. The day before, he had left the choice up to us. He had been mostly concerned for Sakura, and could see her self-doubt.

"If you hadn't all shown up then this would've been over for all of you," he said calmly as ever. I didn't even care anymore, and just wanted to get this over with, but the others seemed shocked. "But you told us it was our choice," Sakura said. "Yes, well, I lied. I didn't want you guys pushing each other into it if you truly didn't feel up to it. But, it seems I didn't have to worry. Here you all are. Do your best, I know you can do," he said with a hidden smile before disappearing.

Entering the room we noticed the enormous amount of people there. 'All of these people are here just for this exam?' "Sasuke! I've been waiting for you," Ino shouted as she pounced on him. Sakura glared and those two started arguing like they were back in the academy.

"Looks like you guys made it here too, huh? Must've been all you and Sasuke," Shika commented as he came after his teammate. "You'd be surprised," I said, leaving a bit of mystery in the air. "How did a bunch of idiots like you manage to make it here? Ami I understand, maybe Sasuke, but come on, they must be letting everyone in if Naruto's here," Kiba said as he and his team approached ours. "Kiba, we all know if it wasn't for Akamaru you wouldn't be here. Isn't that right boy?" I said to the puppy who hopped over to me. Anei's wolf side gave me an inane attachment to canines. Plus he was just so darn cute.

Stupidly I looked around the room. I knew I shouldn't but I couldn't help myself. I mindlessly poured salt into my own wound. Spotting the vivid red hair, all the events of yesterday, and even the past month came rushing back to me. I had hurt him badly. I owed him an explanation, but I didn't know if I could give it. Suddenly I saw his aqua green eyes meet mine. We were locked in a stare. I could feel the resentment emanating from him, even all the way across the room. That one look held until a group of men busted into the room, snapping all attention onto them.

"Hey! You sound ninjas, do you want to be failed right off the bat? Behavior like that will not be tolerated." I had been so distracted I hadn't even noticed what had happened not even three feet away from me. If I didn't snap out of this, I could endanger myself and my team in this exam. "Now, everyone pick a number and sit in the chair according to that number."

Naruto freaked. "A paper test? Why would they give us a paper test? That is so unfair!" I didn't complain. I wasn't a genius, but how hard could it be? Doing as I was told I took my seat, which ended up being between no one I knew. Glancing around I spotted my teammates, as well as the other rookies, Rock Lee and his teammates, and the Sand Siblings. After hearing the rules I hoped Naruto would realize that this was a challenge to cheat without getting caught. Sakura was intelligent, so a paper test would be easy for her, Sasuke would have his Sharingan if he needed help, and by concentrating I could see through shadows, which while people were leaned over writing would conveniently be over there papers.

Waiting about ten or fifteen minutes, I focused on the smartest person in the room, Shikamaru. I looked through his shadow and copied down all the answers he either knew or gathered himself. All that was left was to wait for the final question. I saw my blonde friend struggling. He wasn't cheating, but he wasn't answering either. I couldn't blame him for not knowing the answers, Shikamaru, Sakura, and maybe a handful of others were probably the only ones that could flat out answer them. I just hoped the last question was something he could handle.

Suddenly I felt a gritty sensation by me. Glancing over without moving my head I saw floating sand particles. Gaara's sand eye formed over my neighbor's paper while he was busy rubbing his eye, which I assume now had sand in it. After gathering all the answers, the eye looked straight over at me. I was shocked, but I didn't back down. I stared right back at him until the sand disappeared.

"Alright, looks like it's time for the tenth question. First the rules," Ibiki, the proctor, began. 'More rules, oi… What a headache.' ~This is dull. When do we get to actually fight?~ Anei complained in my head. Naruto actually seemed shaken after Ibiki explained that if you failed after accepting the tenth question you'd be stuck a genin. Slowly his hand rose. 'I never expected him of all people to give up…' I wasn't offended by his choice, just baffled. Had this man gotten to him that much?

Naruto's hand slammed into the desk in front of him. "Ha! What kind of question is that? I would never give up that easily. Bring it on! This is just one more hurdle I have to face to become the Hokage. I'll take on whatever challenge you bring out for me!" Ibiki seemed pleased with his determination, and even told him so. After a few passing moments he announced the news. "For those of you remaining, you have all passed!"

We were all shocked; all of that just for him to pass us for staying. He explained to us why we needed to go through all this. "Information is a delicate and deadly thing to hold and obtain. This test was partially to discover how well you could gather information without being detected. The last question was to test your dedication. There will be times when you will have dangerous missions that you will not be able to refuse. You need a strong will and determination to take them on despite the danger for yourself and your teammates."

Right then something came smashing in through the window. A woman stood there, with a make-shift banner held up by kunai behind her. "Are you all ready? I'm Anko and I'm the proctor for your second test!" She seemed quite excited but we all just stared at her. "Anko… You're early," Ibiki informed her. "Oh… Hey, seventy nine? You let twenty six teams get through? Must have been an easy test this year," she commented. "I believe we just have some exceptional candidates," he retorted. Looking around at my teammates, the other genin from my class, and the others I knew, I couldn't help but agree with him.


	10. The Second Test: Fighting in the Forest

**Diamond-Rose Sisters- Thanks! Here's some more.**

**Gaara-frenzy- You'll just have to wait to find out how it goes down. :P**

**heartlessRayne- ^See above reply^**

**SammPaglia- I'm trying to review as quickly as possible. Sorry for the slow rate!**

**.Princess- I will as long as people still like it!**

**Well, I think I've decided to just continue to write my L story as well as this one. I figured one Gaara story at a time would be good, and the only other story is Lee, which would probably be the least popular anyway. Thanks to the 3 voters I had. I apologize for the long wait for the update. I was going to put this up sooner but I went to a friend's house for the weekend and she didn't have internet. Also, I feel bad that the same 4 people keep reviewing. I love that you guys review, please don't stop, I just wish some more people would bring themselves to review. 4 people out of the 813 this story has had is not a very good ratio. Enough with my complaining, on with the story!**

Pretty Cute for a Red-Head(Part 10: The Second Test: Fighting in the Forest)

"This is Training Ground 44, also known as the Forest of Death!" Anko exclaimed excitedly. 'She's way too excited about the fact that some of us are going to be dying.' ~I can't say I blame her…~ Anei was stirring like crazy just knowing what would be coming up. Glancing over at Gaara I could tell Shukaku was the same way. I had a very bad feeling about this test.

"Bring it on! I'm not afraid of this forest. This is just one more test I have to pass," Naruto exclaimed to Anko. Narrowing her eyes she threw a kunai at him the cut his cheek while suddenly appearing behind him. "It's guys like you that spill your blood all over this forest," she said before stiffening. A grass ninja was right behind her, hold the kunai Anko had thrown in her tongue. 'Gross… Why would you use your tongue for anything like that?'

"I was just returning your kunai to you," the grass ninja said. "I see. Well thank you, but if you ever get that close to me again, expect a fight," Anko warned. After the scene she returned to her explanation. "Now, each of you needs to fill one of these out. They are waivers saying that if you die I'm not responsible. And trust me, plenty of you will be dying," she said brightly. 'Man, she just loves that thought doesn't she? Crazy bloodlust for a normal human.'

"Now after you fill these out, you will turn them in for your scroll. Each team will get one scroll; half of the teams will get Earth while the other half will get Heaven. The object is to reach the tower in the middle with one of each scroll," Anko said as she handed out the forms.

"That means at least half the teams aren't going to make it…" Sakura mumbled at the unreal statistics. "We will be fine. Now, gather up for a game plan," I told my team as we formed a huddle. "As far as who holds the scroll, I believe Naruto would be the best choice. It's unexpected and we can all agree he wouldn't give it up for his life. Now as a second choice I'd say Sasuke just because he's the second strongest team member."

"Why don't you hold it Ami?" Naruto asked. "Because everyone will see that coming. Also, I think that each of us should make a clone copy of it to try to fool anyone if we need to. After we enter, we should stick together for a bit, in case anyone comes at us immediately. If we don't manage to get a scroll in a certain amount of time then we should split up to scout around. Agreed?" They all nodded as we went to turn in our waivers for the scroll.

Waiting for the word we stood outside the gate impatiently. As soon as we heard we could we dashed into the forest. Stopping in a clearing to gather a more specific strategy Naruto revealed that he needed to urinate. He then decided it would be ok to do that in front of Sakura and I. "You idiot! Not in front of us!" she yelled at him. "Go over there," I told him, pointing to some bushes a few yards away. He grumbled but complied by walking to where we couldn't see.

A few moments later he came back talking about how much better he felt. I narrowed my eyes and Sasuke took it further by straight up punching him. "What are you doing Sasuke-kun?" Sakura was confused by the situation. "Tell us where the real Naruto is," I demanded. "You guys caught on faster than I thought," the phony said as he poofed back to his original form. "You didn't have a scratch on your cheek and the shuriken holder was on the wrong side. I'd say that was a pretty shotty transformation," Sasuke replied.

Standing before us now was a rain ninja. He didn't look too threatening, I was confident we could handle him. He also saw that he wouldn't win in a battle against us and took off. A small search of the area led us to Naruto. "We should come up with a password, that way we can check and make sure that each of us is who we say we are," I suggested. "Alright, I know what the password should be. Listen up, I'm only saying this once. The password is: 'It is the chance to sneak up where a large number of enemies is making a scene. The quiet place has no secret hideout. It is important for a Shinobi to know the right time. The time when an enemy is tired and drops his guard.' That's it."

"Alright, I'm going to scout out for potential threats and potential targets. You guys secure a meeting location, and if a team attacks try to get their scroll from them. If you feel like you need my help pull on this." I raised a small string from shadow and handed it to Sakura. "I'll report back to this location in an hour. If I do not return and you are concerned, simply follow the string of shadow I'm leaving you." They all nodded as I jumped away.

After a few minutes I locked onto Kiba, Shino, and Hinata. I didn't want to hurt them, but they could be my ticket to a scroll. I followed a bit, trying to figure out if they even had the scroll we would need. Suddenly I heard Shino's stern voice. "We already have both scrolls. We should just head straight for the tower."

"She never said we couldn't get more. The more we get rid of now the fewer will be left to face later. Look, we'll just go check it out. If it looks like we're outmatched, we'll leave. Ok?" Kiba said. Hinata and Shino caved to their team leader. They must have also figured out there were others ahead of us.

As we got closer Akamaru started shaking and tried hiding further into Kiba's coat. "W-what's wrong wi-with Akamaru?" Hinata asked with concern. "He can sense a person's strength and chakra. I've never seen him this freaked out before. That big guy must be tough." Looking to where their eyes were I saw none other than Gaara. His siblings were behind him and a team stood in front of him.

'This is going to end badly for those guys.' ~Hehe… It's going to rain blood…~ Anei churned again. Controlling her was becoming quite the task. After a failed attack, the shinobi who challenged Gaara was a bit stunned. Sand started creeping towards him, wrapping around his legs and torso, then his entire body. In a few moments Gaara completely crushed him. The other two, seeing how fighting would be futile, begged instead. Handing over their scroll they pleaded for his lives. Their pleas landed on deaf ears as Gaara took both of their lives as well.

I could see he had no intention of stopping. Kankuro and Temari both tried to step in and calm him, but it was useless. His cold aqua eyes locked on to where I knew Kiba, Hinata, and Shino to be. I jumped down silently by them. They seemed shocked to see me but a bit thankful. Sand started dancing in the air by the bush. "Run!" I commanded. They didn't need to be told twice.

I walked out to face Gaara, a glare of hatred forming on his face. "Gaara, I know I upset you the other night. And there's a perfectly good reason. If you'll just let me explain," I tried to communicate with him, but he'd hear none of it. Sand rushed towards me. I dodged quickly and threw him a glare of my own. "Fine. If you won't even let me explain myself then I guess I have no choice but to fight you."

He simply retaliated with more sand as I did a few quick flips away from it. Then I ran at him, stabbing at him with a kunai, knowing that his sand would rise to his defense. As it did, I used the shadow it formed to form my real attack. He saw this and jumped away before it could connect. I was getting angrier with each passing second and Anei was ready to take advantage of that.

"You know what? You are nothing but a spoiled brat. You're only mad because you aren't used to not getting what you want. All you ever do is push around those weaker than you. Sorry to disappoint Gaara, but I won't just cave in because you threaten my life, I'll fight back." With every word the demon began coming to the surface. The black tail and ears formed and well as the claws and fangs. My shadow swirled around me as I felt power surging through my body. I knew what I had said was not completely true but I didn't care. I was angry and I wanted to hurt him like I was hurting.

I ran at him with inhuman speed. My attack was so quick the sand barely had time to block it. My shadow tried to attack him from the back as I attacked from the front. I thought maybe the dual attack would be unblockable, but his sand stopped both. It was then a distraction rose up. I felt a hard pull from the string I'd left with my team. They needed me, they were in trouble. Gaara took advantage of my momentary slip of focus and managed to snatch my leg with sand.

'Shit…' It rushed up but I couldn't lose, couldn't die here. Not with people still needing me. I focused, bringing my shadow up my leg. It was thin enough to fit between the sand and my body. I used it to push the sand off of me. Then I took off in the direction of my team. "Don't run from me!" I heard Gaara yell as he took off after me. "My team needs me. They're in trouble; I have to go to them. I'm sorry, Gaara!" I yelled with all sincerity.

That seemed to stop him, as he followed me no further. Moving as fast as my legs would carry me, I dashed out into the clearing where my team was. Naruto was out cold, as was Lee. Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji were there too. Sakura was in terrible condition and her hair had been sliced off. I looked to the enemies to see they were the sound ninja. Then my eyes spotted the most shocking sight. "Sasuke?" I questioned, not even sure that was really him stepping away from one of them after having done something terrible from the look on the boys face.

"Sasuke! Stop!" Sakura yelled as tears fell from her face. In desperation she ran to him, hugging him around the waist, hoping the contact would bring him back. Her plan worked as I saw the strange markings that had covered him receded. I jumped in front of them to protect them in case the sound wouldn't give up. Seeing that they were currently out matched, Dosu, their leader, handed over their scroll before leaving.

"Why didn't you call for me sooner? How did all of this happen?" I asked Sakura, my demon features fading. "Sasuke asked me not to earlier. But then when this started I was alone so I had to call for you," she explained to me. "How about you? Did you have any luck?" She asked hopefully. "No… No luck at all…" I replied obscurely. "Ran into Gaara, huh? I'm sorry that things aren't going well with him. Maybe at the tower you'll have better luck." Sakura really had changed a lot. "Thank you. Let's focus on making it to the tower first. You look half dead. You should rest."

She agreed, but first Ino came over to her, offering to help her out with her hair. Despite how they fought over Sasuke I could see that they were truly best friends. Naruto started to stir. "Late as always," I mocked, trying to keep the mood light hearted. We were all so worn down, so keeping in good humor was the best way to save energy. It would take everything we had to get to that tower in one piece.


	11. The Second Test: To The Tower!

Pretty Cute for a Red-Head(Part 11: The Second Test: To The Tower!)

Gaara's POV

My siblings and I had arrived at the tower rather quickly it seemed. No other teams were there until much later. The next team to arrive seemed familiar to me in a way I was uncertain of. The slow realization crept up in me that this was the team Ami had saved from my sand.

Ami… What was with her? How was she doing this to me? She scorned me in front of all the others, treating me just as everyone else had. I thought maybe I'd finally found someone who understood but it turns out she's just a hypocritical bitch. This sort of treatment I was used to though. Why was it bothering me so much now?

What I was feeling was foreign to me. I had to ask someone else. Looking around the room I spotted the perfect candidate. She was obvious shy and easily frightened. I walked over to the pale, dark haired girl and she already began to cower. Either this was going to be really easy or she was going to be too afraid of me to even say anything.

"You, I need to talk to you," I said as I cornered her. "M-m-me?" she barely managed to stutter out. My patience would grow thin quickly if she kept up her cowering. Under normal circumstances I would bask in someone fearing me to suck an extent but I needed her to at least able to talk.

"Yes, you. You know Ami, correct?" She nodded her answer to avoid her stutter. At least she realized how annoying stumbling through every response would be. "Well my question is about her. Does she have a special genjutsu in her arsenal? I noticed many of the boys around here seem infatuated by her." I growled, thinking of all their attempts to take her away the day of the festival.

The girl shook her head. "The b-biggest reason guys l-like her is because sh-she isn't obsessed with S-Sasuke." I looked at her in annoyed disbelief. "R-Really, she's about the o-only option they h-have. All the o-other girls are t-too focused on S-Sasuke and won't give anyone e-else the time of d-day."

Really? That was the only reason those boys liked her? It wasn't her looks, her demeanor, her utter acceptance of anyone? And then it hit me. I had let her become another Yashamaru. The answer crawled out from the depths of my mind. That was ridiculous. How could I have been so ignorant? It was clear how much of a weakness she had become. I had stopped chasing her over a few words and had even left the ones she'd defended alive. This could not be happening. I needed to end, no, not just end, crush this developing feeling. Love only myself. That was exactly what I planned to do.

Ami's POV

We took a few days to recover, seeing as how severe most of their injuries were. Now we only had one day left to get another scroll. "I'm going to go get some fresh drinking water," Sasuke said. "I'll come with you. I need to talk to you," I said as I followed him.

For a moment we just stood in silence before he bent over to fill the canister with water. "So? What did you want to talk about?" he asked. "Two things. First off, what the hell were you thinking?" I shouted. He looked at me as if he didn't know what I was talking about. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. Why didn't you allow Sakura to call for me when you guys obviously needed all the help you could get? If it weren't for other teams' involvement you three would all probably be dead."

"I needed to prove I could handle it. Besides, you were probably just out sucking face with Gaara," he snarled. I couldn't stop my gut reaction. I felt a sting in my palm and looked to see his hand touching a red mark on his face. The shock slowly left his face. "I deserved that. I'm sorry… I just don't understand how you could like someone like him," Sasuke snarled the end. He was pushing it again.

"Exactly what do you mean someone like him?" I shot back. "That's not what I meant. I mean how ruthless he is. He kills, just for the thrill of killing. You can smell the blood in his sand. It's disgusting," Sasuke said with appall. I sighed, knowing in a way he was right. Killing was wrong, especially when I couldn't help but think that most of the spilled blood wasn't even from enemy ninjas. Not that I hadn't had my share of civilian casualties, but I was trying to change. "But Sasuke, you don't understand…" I tried but I didn't know how to finish. "I'm trying to, I really am. It just makes no sense how you could like a guy like that but whenever I try to get close to you I get pushed away."

"Sasuke, you're comparing apples and oranges. You and Gaara are completely different. I can relate to what he's been through, and if you hadn't noticed at the party I can't get close to him either, so just drop it. Now, moving on, what the hell happened to you while I was gone?"

"You saw that, did you?" Sasuke asked hesitantly. "You mean how you almost ripped a guy's arms off? Yes, I did. Now tell me how you were doing that and what that strange aura was around you," I pressed. "While you were gone, that odd grass ninja attacked us. She came after me specifically. But then something changed… I knew she was dangerous, more than that even. But, then she tore off her face and became a totally different person. He was so strong… I couldn't beat him… But he gave me this power and left us alive."

"That power is dangerous and that man is dangerous too. Sasuke, how could you have been so foolish? You really think someone like that would give you a power with no catch? As soon as we get out of here we're telling Kakashi-sensei."

"But, why? I can handle this," he retorted. "No, we are telling him that's final. Now we better get back to camp before our teammates do something stupid."

Sasuke grumbled a bit but followed me back to camp, water in tow. As we parted the bushes we came to see that my slight jest of them doing something stupid had become a reality. Naruto and Sakura were peering at the scroll with Kabuto crouched down with his hand on the scroll, preventing Naruto from opening it. Sasuke ran over, assuming Kabuto was trying to take the scroll, but the situation was quickly resolved.

"You idiots!" I yelled, my eyes glowing red with fury. "If it wasn't for Kabuto we would have failed thanks to that imbecilic plan. And I don't like relying on others." Naruto and Sakura looked apologetic for what they'd done when Sasuke hatched a plan of his own to win this test.  
"Kabuto, fight me!" He shouted. Kabuto turned to him with a slight smirk. "You don't really mean that. If you really wanted to fight me for my scrolls you would've pounced while I wasn't expecting it. That is how a ninja acts. But I like your attitude, so I'll help you guys out. But let's move before that fire draws any enemies to us."

I did not really fully trust Kabuto, but after he saved our squad he was unlikely to try anything at this point in the test. And with the clock running down we needed all the help we could get. "Alright, so have you guys thought of the conditions you're heading into and what the best plan to get a scroll is?" We all shook our heads to show we hadn't thought of a solid plan yet.

"Well something to take into consideration is that the remaining teams at this point will be heading towards the tower." Kabuto explained. Sakura chimed in with a plan formed on what he said. "Taking that into consideration it makes the most sense to set up a trap near the tower to ambush those heading for the tower."

"That's one third of the plan. You also have to realize you aren't the only team thinking that. Others with be ready and waiting to pounce on any last opportunity." Naruto added this time, excitement ringing in his voice. "So there will be a bunch of groups set up already waiting to pounce on us too. Being at a disadvantage really gets me pumped!"

"That's two thirds of the plan. Have any of you come up with the last piece?" Again, we all shook our heads. "The third thing to be aware of is Collectors, those who when a challenge like this arises gather as many scrolls as they can, either as bargaining chips, extras for squads of the same village, or just to eliminate competition."

I let out a slight chuckle as Sasuke piped up. "Well, this explains why you helped us. You're afraid, aren't you? You didn't want to try to make it to the tower all by yourself so you teamed up with us." Kabuto smirked as he nodded.

Suddenly a rustling noise caught all of our ears. "There!" Naruto shouted as he threw a kunai in the direction of the noise. We all looked to see a gigantic centipede stuck to a tree, Naruto's kunai fatally piercing it's head. "Naruto, from here on think more about your actions. Attacking and yelling without thinking is basically announcing our location to the entire forest." Naruto gulped as we continued on.

"Ugh, I can't take this!" Sakura exclaimed. "It does seem like we are getting any closer to the tower." I added. Kabuto pointed to something. "That might explain why." Looking over we all saw the same giant centipede from earlier.

"Great… So we've been walking in circles. Do you think it's enemy genjutsu?" I asked. Kabuto nodded. "They'll probably make they're move soon now that we've realized that." We all prepared for an enemy to strike at any moment.

A strange gurgling noise started and what looked to be clones of a rain ninja started appearing out of the ground. "It seems it's time to get down to business then. Let's beat these guys, get the scroll and get to the tower. I'm ready to finish this damned test." I said as my shadow lifted up, standing next to me like a solid silhouette.

After Naruto started attacking it was quickly ascertained that this was still a genjutsu. "Fine! I'll just have to beat them all to a pulp at once to reveal where the real enemy is!" Naruto shouted as he used his multiple shadow clone jutsu. Quickly following the plan he turned a few of his clones into copies of Kabuto, Sakura, Sasuke, my shadow and I.

The rain ninja lifted their genjutsu, looking down at Naruto and what they thought to be the rest of us. I let out a cold laugh as shock spread on their faces. "Now it's our turn. Thanks for weeding these pests out for us Naruto." I said as I used their shadows to grab them and hold them in place. After that we quickly knocked them out and searched for their scroll.

"Score! It's a Heaven Scroll! Now let's get to that tower." Naruto said excitedly. "I couldn't agree more, Naruto." I said as we all headed to the tower, this time making actual progress. As we arrived we said our last thanks to Kabuto and walked through a set of doors into the tower. 'I guess he's an alright guy after all.'


End file.
